Bound: Applications from Acts
“I was struck by the occurrence of a single word: bound.”
In 1732, Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann received a call from God to leave their homes in Germany to minister the gospel to the African slaves on the islands of the West Indies. When they were met with a firm “no,” they sold themselves into the bondage of a slave owner traveling to the islands, singing "may the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!"
It is usually the multiplicity of a single word in a passage that catches one's eye. However, as Pastor Brandon finished his series on Acts, I was struck by the occurrence of a single word: bound. This word caught my attention, because to me Acts 28:16-31 is all about our bindings in Christ and in the world, and to see the word “bound” only occur once made it all the more poignant.
As we break down the passage, we see in verses 16-17 that Paul is in captivity under the attention of one soldier. He is presented as a prisoner to the Jewish elders in Rome, and in verse 19 we see that though he would have been let go in Jerusalem due to his lack of an identifiable crime, he was constrained to appeal to Caesar. This was his self-imposed fetter so that he might preach the gospel to the Jews in Rome. He states in verse 20 that “for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” The Roman Jews had not heard of him, and they appointed him a day where many came to visit him in his house. We find that his fetters and compulsion were to preach the gospel to them from morning to evening. Some believed, and some didn’t. In the aftermath, Paul declares that the nation had its own binding: ears dull of hearing, closed eyes that cannot perceive, and a heart waxed gross with no understanding. Finally, we see Paul’s freedom to preach the unbound gospel while he stayed under house arrest.
“Similarly, it is our obsession for Christ’s name that will turn any fetters into crowns. ”
It is easy for us to feel discouraged by our own perceived bonds. For me, I have seen my bonds as the too busy lifestyle of a medical student, the studying required to pass my classes, the hours imposed upon me by the hospital, my upcoming residency, my deficiencies in leadership and in speech, the trials in my life, my health at times, my lack of resources in ministry, my shyness, my sins...the list could go on forever. For others, these bonds are family members who will not listen to your words because of who you once were, poverty or physical need, series of failures, restrictive housing situations, and the leaders in our lives who “hold” us back from the positions we think we deserve.
Pastor Brandon pointed out that Paul is our ensample, an apostle born out of due time, that he might preach to the Gentiles. What I see in Paul is that the only bonds that are true and compelling are the ones making him a debtor to share the gospel and those on the hearts and minds of the lost to keep them from hearing the gospel. All other “bonds” were nothing more than opportunities for God to show himself strong on the behalf of his own glory. Pastor Brandon said that Paul was a man of “intense obsession.” He was bound, but not. He was free but bound. Similarly, it is our obsession for Christ’s name that will turn any fetters into crowns. Paul set aside all other bonds to win souls. The only binding he saw in his life was the one making him debtor to share the gospel with the lost, regardless of where it took him in life, and the one on the hearts and minds of the lost, frustrating his message through lack of faith.
“We are free from bondage to sin that we might be free to serve Christ.”
Like the lost, I was once very much bound. God repairs the irreparable. Romans 6 writes the lyrics to our victory cry. We were once in bondage to sin, and the payment of our wages was death. But when Christ came, he declared death defeated, and sin succumbed to the cross. We were set free from the bondage of our sin that we might serve a new master. When we realize that we are new creatures in Christ, new creations made in the image of Christ, given liberty and joy and life, then we can face any “bonds” in our life with victory. After all, nothing now can hold us back. We are free from bondage to sin that we might be free to serve Christ. It is not the freedom to serve self or the world, for those are both our original bondage recolored. When we serve Christ, we are free. But when we serve ourselves, then we constrain ourselves with true bonds. No other “liberation” and “freedom” has been so misnamed than that describing the ability to live as one wants and do as one pleases. The fruit of these things is death (Romans 6:20-23).
Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Paul understood this, and no man or circumstance could touch his joy that he had in Christ Jesus, for he had committed everything to him against that day (2 Tim 1:12). Like Peter in the prison cell, any other fetters were just simple chains for the touch of Christ to shatter. And the greatest binding was broken when the Lord delivered him from every evil work and preserved him unto his heavenly kingdom forever (2 Tim 4:18) through the edge of a beheading sword. Paul was bound, but he was free to proclaim the gospel.
“As for the bindings that others or circumstances have placed upon you, trust God to either break them or to use them. ”
Acts 28 told me to examine myself for captivity and liberty. The binds I place upon myself can be my own comfort. They could be the fear of being rejected. More personally, my bonds can also be my identity - how I believe that I should speak to others (or not), whom I believe I should interact with (or not), and how I project myself to the world. Paul’s identity was that to die is gain and to live is Christ. All else was dung to cast behind himself as he pushed forward to Christ. These are all fetters that you have placed upon yourself. Cast them off. Trust God to know no man in the flesh, least of all yourself. Count these things all as loss, the gain being to know Christ (Philippians 3).
As for the bindings that others or circumstances have placed upon you, trust God to either break them or to use them. As I face medical residency, I know that my work hours will be outrageous. However, instead of fearing that God will not use me because I will be so “unavailable,” I need to remember that nothing is too great for the Lord. When Paul was in house arrest in Rome, he brought the people to him. God can do that for me, too. I will obey him in faith and not in fear.
For Paul, the message that burned in his heart allowed his outward bonds to be gain and his inward bonds loss to be cast behind him. Our true fetters to preach the gospel means that we have a message that can set the world free. If this is not currently your obsession, then surround yourself with those who are obsessed, to be yokefellow with them in the bond of the gospel. Pray to God that he will work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil 2:13). Trust God to use you in whichever circumstances you are in, for the poor widow’s mite was far more valuable to God than the riches of those to whom giving cost them nothing. Cast aside everything else. Remember that even Jesus was physically bound, but his physical bindings were used to set all men free.
Connor Muolo is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and is a part of C&YA. She is a part of Friends of Internationals and Temple Worship. She leads a women’s Bible study at KU Medical Center.
